Do you enjoy playing games? Many of our favourite games are competitive - from sports and pub quizzes to game shows and board games with family. But why do we enjoy competition so much? It’s risky, it’s challenging, and above all, it’s social. While winning is usually the goal, much of the enjoyment often comes from the process of competing with others, not just the outcome. Our low-stakes forms of competition, like games, might even serve an evolutionary purpose by helping us practice social interaction in a safe, playful way. But what about our closest relatives - chimpanzees? Do they enjoy competition for its own sake, or would they simply prefer a guaranteed reward?

We will explore whether chimpanzees might find social competition enjoyable, using an ‘arcade-style’ game. In the study, chimps are given two options: they can either press a button alone to move a food tray toward themselves, earning a reward with no competition. Or, in the social version of the game where two chimps can play at once - a singular food tray is operated by two buttons in opposite directions, such that the food moves toward the chimp who presses their button the most! Over time, we’ll learn which option they prefer: an easy reward, or the challenge of a game?

In the initial phases of this study, Charlie is training chimps to press a button to obtain frozen juice cubes as food rewards, before scaling it up to be 2-player. The project is enriching for the chimps, it encourages problem-solving and offers food rewards as a result of their actions.

By watching how chimps engage with these games, we’ll learn more about their social lives, and perhaps even a little more about ourselves.